Ten years ago, a small Internet company called Google (maybe you’ve heard of it?) released its IPO prospectus, declaring that its code of conduct was “don’t be evil."
Google (GOOGL) debuted at $85 a share with a $23 billion valuation. Today the stock is trading just under $600 a share with a $390 billion market cap.
“Google has just killed it,” says Yahoo Finance’s Henry Blodget. “They had a great central product and...it is an insanely profitable business that has thrown out all sorts of cash.”
At the time of Google’s IPO the company's annual revenue was just over $3 billion; today it comes in at around $70 billion.
Of course Google has also produced other successful products including Gmail, YouTube Chrome and many experimental products like Google Glass, self-driving cars, and a monthly music subscription service. Google’s display business and its YouTube division are becoming meaningful businesses for Google, says Blodget. But, “everything else is pretty much a rounding error…it may be exciting someday but right now it is not.”
So what will Google look like 10 years from now? “Search will still be the driver," notes Blodget. "They’ve got to continue to crank up YouTube and steal dollars from television. If they can start really digging into the television budget, then you’ve got a lot of growth left.”
